Sample questions from the MCAS (thing)

OK, so here in Massachusetts they've got this much-debated MCAS. It's a standardized test given at three levels - 4th, 8th, and 10th grade. As of 2002, you must pass the 10th grade exam in order to graduate. Now, there's been a big uproar over this -- mostly because a large percentage of students fail the test -- with students staging walkouts and parents protesting in the streets against the test. Most of the protesters feel that the test standardizes schools, taking away creativity and individuality in teaching and learning, forcing them to focus on one, all-encompassing, behemoth of a test.

Personally, I think standardized tests aren't all that great, but I do see the MCAS as a way to, at the very least, keep functionally illiterate people from slipping through the cracks. But, rather than jump on the bandwagon either way, like most folks have, I went to the MCAS website and downloaded the May 1998 test, just to see how "impossible" this test was. This is a test that students say is too hard, educators say is too hard, and parents say is too hard. I have to say I'm underwhelmed by it. Here are some sample questions from the test. I've tried to pick a 'hard' one and a boneheaded one from each section. Here goes...